Maria sat on the corner of the bed, softly humming to herself. It was winter break, and her parents were away for the weekend at their friends' house. Maria was glad. She chewed meditatively on a pencil, and stared at the diary on her lap. It was a beautiful diary, leather-bound with an ornate gold lock. She looked up as if recalling some long-forgotten fact, and started furiously writing on the page. When she had filled the page, a smile flashed across her face. She locked the diary with the little gold key hanging on her necklace and set it down on her dresser. Just then the phone rang. She leisurely waited for the phone to ring three times, and then reached over to pick up the receiver.  
Maria languidly said "Hello, this is Maria. Who's calling?."
"Hi! What's up?" a bright voice chirped.
Maria let out a quiet sigh. It was Elisa. Elisa was an annoying twit who just happened to have Matthew, the hottest guy in school, as a boyfriend. When Maria found that out, she decided to be friends with Elisa. Maria was not scrupulous when it came to guys.
"Yes, hi Elisa. Nothing's up. As usual."
"Guess what? Matty and I are going to see the Pine Needles concert tonight!!"
"Oh, that's very nice!" said Maria, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Isn't it? I'm soooooo excited!", squealed Elisa, not noticing the sarcasm, "He even got us backstage passes!"
"That's wonderful! However did he do it?"
"Well, he has an uncle who is a friend of the associate manager of some big company who's boss is a nephew of one of the deejays in a station that plays some Pine Needles, and that makes the ringmaster of a circus happy. This ringmaster is married to a lady who trains elephant in the circus. This lady who trains elephants is having an affair with this guy who owns a fast food restaurant chain that once served a meal to the assistant producer of the first TV show the Needles were on, who liked the meal. The producer, I mean. Anyway, this producer talked to a talk show host who once had one of the band members on her show when he still was in Oakflats Mental Rehabilitation Center. This host happened to be the grandmother of one of the announcers at a Cowards game where they played one of the Needles' songs without permission, and they got into a lawsuit. The Needles ended up winning, so they got alot of money, and now they really like that announcer who played the music, so one of the mother-in-laws of..."
"Okay. I get the point. I think it's very cute that Matthew pulled so many complicated strings to get you those tickets."
"You think that was complicated? That was just the portion that occurred in Rhode Island! You see, His uncle lived in Rhode Island, and so did the associate manager, deejay, ringmaster, the ringmaster's wife, the elephants, the guy whom the ringmaster's wife was..."
"Yes. I see. So, you wouldn't happen to have any extras, would you?"
"Extra whats?"
"Tickets to the Pine Needles concert, of course!", Maria was trying to keep her voice as normal as possible, but with Elisa, that was very hard...
"Oh, no. I'm terribly sorry. It's just that the guy who was supposed..."
"That's okay, I don't really mind.", Maria interjected quickly before Elisa could start rambling on about the intricate backstage pass-getting processes of Matthew's relations' relations' relations'.
"All right, then. Can I come over? I'm bored to death here, and my baby brother is drooling on me."
"Then put him down!"
"But my mom said to hold him!"
"She meant that figuratively."
"Are you sure?"
"YES!!!"
"Okay, okay, don't have a hissy fit!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you.", Maria lied.
"That's okay. I guess I was overreacting to what you said. Anyway, then, as soon as mom gets back, I'll be over. Bye"
"Bye!"
Just like Elisa, thought Maria, to invite herself over, and hang up before I could make an excuse. Oh, well, maybe Elisa's mother would have to use the car or something...